Spanish
Nairobi.- Amnesty International (AI) urged Eswatini authorities this Friday to allow immediate legal access to five men deported from United States and held for two months in a maximum security prison without charges being brought against them.
“Eswatini authorities must officially reveal the whereabouts of the five men, immediately grant them regular and confidential access to their lawyers, and provide legal grounds for their detention,” AI noted in a statement.
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The deportees —Roberto Mosquera Del Peral, Kassim Saleh Wasil, Dung Tien Nguyen, Phone Chomsavanh, and Orville Etoria— were transferred from the US on July 16 and are allegedly held at the Matsapha Correctional Complex, according to the organization. The defense denounced that the authorities have repeatedly blocked visits, allowing only proposals for video or supervised contact, which does not comply with international standards. AI warned that the men have not been informed about their legal situation or the duration of their detention. Local lawyers filed an urgent habeas corpus petition with the High Court to ensure his appearance or at least confidential access, initially scheduled for August 1st. The Constitution of Eswatini - formerly Swaziland - protects the right to due process and reasonable and confidential access to legal assistance. AI recalled that, although the U.S. has authority to regulate immigration, it is bound by international law to ensure that its deportations do not create risks of human rights violations. The organization linked this case to others in the region, such as that of two deported U.S. citizens of Cuban and Burmese origin held in South Sudan. "This documents a similar pattern of secrecy surrounding the whereabouts of detainees and the denial of unsupervised legal access following expulsions linked to the US campaign," the document concluded. The resumption of deportation flights from the United States to third countries comes after the Supreme Court authorized the Trump administration to carry out these expulsions, in a victory for its tough immigration policy. Since his return to the White House in January, Trump has pushed for express expulsions to countries like El Salvador, Sudan, Eswatini, and Ghana as part of his campaign of mass deportations, one of his main campaign promises. Eswatini has a population of about 1.2 million people, which is predominantly rural, and 60% live on resources below the poverty line, according to World Bank data. King Mswati III, head of state since 1986 and leader of Africa's last absolute monarchy, holds executive and legislative power and, although the country holds elections every five years to elect members of the Lower House of Parliament, they only play the role of advisors to the monarch.
